


Living is the best revenge sometimes

by NovaCorium



Category: Fire Emblem: Shin Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Ken | Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brief mentions of enemy bodies, Gen, It's kind of what Gotoh keeps saying around her, Mentions of suicidal indifference, The title is Absolutely Not what Linde thinks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 15:31:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16411139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NovaCorium/pseuds/NovaCorium
Summary: After Miloah is killed by Gharnef, Linde hunts down Gotoh, with the goal of becoming his student.





	Living is the best revenge sometimes

“Child of Miloah.” The old dragon sage’s voice is more magic than sound, and filled with sorrow. 

She starts to tear up again, just from hearing her father’s name. Her throat’s closing up, but she has to keep moving forward, taking the risk of angering this ancient being. 

“You failed him.” 

The humanoid form recoils, as if struck. 

“Ghar...Gharnef’s killing your city.” 

Even saying his name makes it harder to talk, although this time it’s from rage. 

“Take me as your student. I’ll right your mistake. I’ll destroy him.” She sobs, a low, choked sound, and keeps going. “I’ll avenge my father. Your student. Even if it takes my life.”

At last, his gaze falls upon her, even if it feels filled with pity. “...Somehow, I always forget how young and volatile you humans are...” 

“Take me. I’ll do anything.” 

“I will not take a student that intends to die.” His words are swift and firm. 

“What?” 

She didn’t. It was just an acceptable price.

“And yet, you are right.” He pauses, sighs. “I am weary of this world. And there is more I must do.” 

 

 

Gotoh shows his new student to a set of rooms in the tower, and finally goes down to his study with the intent of scrying Gharnef’s movements. The room isn't empty, though. Against a stone wall, a young dragon in human form leans, doing his best to look casual and uncaring. 

“So. Students are a thing again, huh?” 

Gotoh sweeps past Xane, aiming for his favorite seat. It was wooden, finely carved, and with enough preservation charms upon it to last easily another millenium. 

“She raised some good points.” 

“What, she hit that mile-wide thing of guilt you have over your student killing your other, favorite student?”

“....” Gotoh turned, fixing Xane with an unimpressed, elder dragon stare. 

“Wha- She actually did?” He looked torn between wanting to high five her and wanting to tear this unknown human apart in a protective rage.

Gotoh didn’t acknowledge his words, instead moving on. “...Humans burn so brightly, and so quickly. Having a young, passionate one around will remind us of the time scale that Gharnef works on, helping us to counter him.” 

“Ughhhhhh.” Without looking, Gotoh could tell that Xane was sliding down the wall, sprawling on the floor. 

“Behave. You’ll be cleaning up any scorch marks you leave.” 

 

 

 

 

The tower of Thabes is tall, cloaked in floating clouds of fog and darkness. It’s not quite a single tower, but rather multiple, built together and supporting each other. At night, it’s hard to see more than an arm's length in front of you, which ruins a view that would otherwise be magnificent. 

So, of course, the dead of night is when Gotoh warps Linde and Xane just inside the tower gates. It’s the closest he can manage, as the tower is one roiling mass of dark, shielded energy. 

The fog easily muffles the screams of soldiers, along with the bursts of light that erupt, blooming and shining brilliant white through the fog, before they fade out. 

The path is narrow, and isn’t helped by the enemy corpses. Linde shivers, carefully picking her way over and around them. It’s horrible, almost reminiscent of the fall of Archanea Palace, and yet... She’s causing this. Because these people have chosen to follow Gharnef. And by her own hands, she will end him. 

Xane, with his keen, pointed ears, taps her arm. He points, and with his other hand, holds up three fingers, counting down. When he gets to zero, Linde launches a burst of Aura in that direction. As they continue onwards, she sees the results, a soldier slumped against the wall, unused shield next to his sword. 

The rest of the journey upwards is largely much of the same. Once, Xane sneaks ahead, and she soon she finds an enemy archer, looking to have been hit from a short range fire spell. When she finds Xane, he sneezes, and a little spray of sparks comes out. Linde gives him a bit more space after that. 

Finally, they’re at the top. The guards up here fall like the others below, and shortly thereafter the big metal gates do as well. They were made to resist the ages, not a very determined mage hurling high powered magic at them. 

As it happens, the gates falling inward damage some machinery, which is a great start. Xane whistles appreciatively. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she sees him stiffen up, turning back to the door. 

It’s hard, not turning and facing her father’s killer. But she is here, her hand on a Bolganone tome, and Gharnef’s prized magical generator is in front of her. 

Only a tiny bit of the magic she pours into the spell is from her life force. No, really. The rest is just from standing in this room. 

Before and beneath them, things explode. It’s very satisfying, even with the room shaking alarmingly. 

Linde has known for a while how she wants to go out. She turns, baring her teeth in a manic smile, taking pleasure in Gharnef’s furious expression, even before he recognizes her. 

The floor begins to shake apart, this part of the tower falling apart beneath them. 

She’s not expecting blue light to pulse around her, and Xane, but it does. And then she’s elsewhere. 

 

Next to her, Xane is on the ground, off-balance and clinging to the floor. In front, Gotoh stands, leaning on a staff, and looking stricken. 

“Linde.” That one word carries volumes. 

Her heart is still pounding, and it’s hard to find words. 

“He would have killed us anyway if I hadn’t done something.” And then she adds, “I wanted Xane to get out. But really, I don’t know what you expected from me.” 

A muffled screaming comes from Xane, still on the floor. 

She looks down at her feet, and then Gotoh is in front of her, pulling her into a tight, one-handed hug. His other hand is taken up by pulling Xane in, as well. Linde can’t stop herself from crying into her teacher’s robes, but it seems he doesn’t even mind. 

 

 

 

It’s days later, and Linde is on punishment cleaning for the foreseeable future. Sweeping the hallways with a physical broom is tedious, and that’s probably the exact point of it. 

It’s because she’s out in the halls, though, that she finds Xane stuffing dried sausages into a small pack. Without turning, he speaks. 

“You’re so grounded. For at least a decade. You’ll be all old and wrinkly afterwards.” 

She’s honestly not sure how much of that is joking, and how much of that is Xane not knowing how long humans live. Probably a bit of both. 

“Yeah. I understand chore punishments. The goal is to not do the thing again. So, um. Sorry for almost getting you killed.” 

"Pfff. I'm skipping out before he forgets I had a part in that too." After that, there’s silence between them, because after living around Xane and Gotoh for the past couple years, she knows that Xane is really, really bad at honestly talking with people. 

He’s also still fitting meat into the pack. Is there even any bread in there? 

He finishes packing, and closes up the pack before slinging it onto his shoulders, which is a bit awkward given the manakete wings that he’s made larger. She’s seen him practicing flying with those, and while it’s cool, she’s trying not to think about how he started doing it after he was nearly killed from multiple different causes in a tower. Gharnef, the explosion, the tower collapsing....

On his way out the door, he pauses. “You know, I agree with you.”

“Hm?”

“You’re the perfect person to take out Gharnef.” 

Oh. She's not sure whether that's a compliment or not. Again, probably a bit of both. 

Xane chuckles, and heads out the door. From down the hallway, she hears him. “I’ll bring you a souvenir when you’re old and still grounded!” 

And then she's alone in the pantry. 

She's glad that she made the decision to find Gotoh, years ago. Now Gharnef knows that she's alive, and coming for him, and she has an unofficial dragon grandpa. Honestly, it could be a lot worse.

**Author's Note:**

> Time to cast my fic into the internet and then never check ao3 again out of terror. If anyone has advice on how to find people that'll beta things, I'd greatly appreciate it. Right now, I feel like youtried.png. 
> 
> The tags are probably a better summary than the actual summary. Rip.   
> I love Linde a lot. She's consistently my little magic nuke, especially in Heroes. Also, I honestly didn't intend to write so much Xane in this.


End file.
